Cyclists make their way through the Narrows, the steepest climb up Boulder Canyon, in Boulder, Colo., Sunday, June 8, 2014. Over 2,000 cyclists took part in the annual Ride the Rockies Tour. The first stage started at Fairview High School in Boulder headed up Hwy 119 or Boulder Canyon through the town of Nederland, continued along the Peak to Peak Highway through Black Hawk and Central City down to Highway I-70. From there cyclists took the frontage road to Hwy 40 to go up and over Berthoud Pass and end the day in Winter Park. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Helen H. Richardson)

Cyclists enjoy the view of Eldora ski area and the high peaks outside of Nederland, Colo., after finishing the 18 mile up Boulder Canyon Sunday, June 8, 2014. Over 2,000 cyclists took part in the annual Ride the Rockies Tour. The first stage started at Fairview High School in Boulder headed up Hwy 119 or Boulder Canyon through the town of Nederland, continued along the Peak to Peak Highway through Black Hawk and Central City down to Highway I-70. From there cyclists took the frontage road to Hwy 40 to go up and over Berthoud Pass and end the day in Winter Park. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Helen H. Richardson)

Customers are encouraged to bike as car parking will be closed from 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, until 11 a.m. Friday, June 13. The north parking lot entrance and the traffic circle will remain open for dropoff and pickup only.

The gymnasium and indoor basketball courts will be closed all day Thursday and on Friday until 11 a.m.

All drop-in group fitness classes are canceled after 1 p.m. Thursday. Classes will resume with the 11:10 a.m. class Friday.

The water aerobics class at 8 a.m. and Sahn Taekwondo at 10 a.m. on Friday will run.

BMC Summer Day Camp

Thursday camper dropoff and pickup will be at the Stephen C. West Ice Arena at 0189 Boreas Pass Road at the regular times. Friday dropoff will also be at the Ice Arena. Pickup will resume at the recreation center as normal.

Youth Activities Dropoff and Pickup

Parents may drop off and pick up children at the Recreation Center traffic circle for climbing camp, tennis camps and evening swimming lessons.

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Around 2 p.m. Sunday, Breckenridge Mayor John Warner started his ride down Berthoud Pass.

It was a “miserable, cold, very wet descent,” he said Tuesday. “Probably the gnarliest descent I’ve ever done on a bicycle.”

Warner was one of the lucky — or unlucky, depending on your perspective — cyclists in the 29th annual Ride the Rockies road biking event who made it down the 11,306-foot pass.

Adverse weather forced organizers of the six-day event to shuttle hundreds of riders to that night’s stop in Winter Park.

“Biking in Breckenridge kind of teaches you about the weather,” Warner said.

He wore several layers, long leggings, wool socks, full-length gloves and a hat and rode slowly down the pass covered in water and snow. The next day, he had to replace his brake pads.

This is Warner’s seventh or eighth Ride the Rockies. His last time was in 2008, right after he became mayor and the last year the ride went through Breckenridge.

On Thursday, about 2,000 bikers will arrive in Breckenridge on their fifth day of the event put on by the Denver Post. Riders began Sunday in Boulder and will cross almost 500 miles and six mountain passes.

“It’s not a race,” said Kim Dykstra-DiLallo, spokeswoman for the town of Breckenridge. “It’s a challenging ride.”

The Breckenridge Recreation Center baseball and softball fields will turn into a tent city Thursday night, with about 1,200 people camping outside and another 200 sleeping inside.

She said everyone is invited to a party at the Riverwalk Center Thursday starting around noon, with food and beverages for sale from Foodhedz and Breckenridge Distillery and free entertainment, including belly dancers, DJ DC, Noah and the Arks, and Chris Daniels and the Kings.

The event generates about $1.5 million in tourism for the state, she said, and brings thousands of riders and their families and friends to town. As of May 15, local occupancy levels were 50 percent higher for this Thursday, June 12, than they were for Thursday, June 13, 2013, a year when the event did not come through town.

Expect the recpath to be busier than usual between noon and 6 p.m. Thursday, she said. Riders will leave Friday morning and be gone by 9 or 10 a.m. on their way up Swan Mountain Road to Loveland Pass before ending in Golden.

Spectators can watch from anywhere along the recpath.

At the celebration Thursday, event organizers will present a $5,000 grant to Early Childhood Options, the county’s child care resource and referral agency.

Volunteers with the Team Breckenridge Sports Club will serve as members of the welcoming committee and green team crew and will provide traffic direction and bike security. In exchange, Ride the Rockies donated $1,700 to the organization.

An ordinance prohibiting camping within town limits will be relaxed Thursday night, and riders can take advantage of the Breckenridge Restaurant Association dining passport program, which normally costs $10 for meal discounts and specials.

“These are riders that we would love to have come back and see us,” she said of the bikers who represent all 50 states and about 12 countries.

Breckenridge resident Chris John, 58, said he was excited to sleep in his own bed Thursday after biking in the event.

“The first day was brutal,” he said, describing how riders climbed more than 9,900 feet and experienced lightning, hail, sleet, rain and high winds. The loop around Steamboat Springs he completed Tuesday was gorgeous, sunshiney and warm, he said, “the polar opposite of the first day.”

Another Breckenridge resident, Twyla Gurlea, 36, just started road biking about three months ago. She said her husband and four kids have been following her and supporting her the whole way and she’s loved seeing the beauty of Colorado during the ride.

“I don’t think I’d ever get to be on some of these roads if I wasn’t on a bike,” she said.